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The Time Axis
Called to the end of time by a being known as The Face of Ea, four adventurers face a power that not even the science of that era could meet -- the nekron, negative matter, negative force, ultimate desctruction for everything it touched!
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
4 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kuttner
736 books206 followersHenry Kuttner was, alone and in collaboration with his wife, the great science fiction and fantasy writer C.L. Moore, one of the four or five most important writers of the 1940s, the writer whose work went furthest in its sociological and psychological insight to making science fiction a human as well as technological literature. He was an important influence upon every contemporary and every science fiction writer who succeeded him. In the early 1940s and under many pseudonyms, Kuttner and Moore published very widely through the range of the science fiction and fantasy pulp markets.
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
Edward J. Bellin
Paul Edmonds
Noel Gardner
Will Garth
James Hall
Keith Hammond
Hudson Hastings
Peter Horn
Kelvin Kent
Robert O. Kenyon
C. H. Liddell
Hugh Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
Edward J. Bellin
Paul Edmonds
Noel Gardner
Will Garth
James Hall
Keith Hammond
Hudson Hastings
Peter Horn
Kelvin Kent
Robert O. Kenyon
C. H. Liddell
Hugh Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 18, 2011
Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's sole novel of 1948, "The Mask of Circe," was a very way-out excursion in the fantasy realm, and in early 1949, the pair followed up with an equally way-out piece of hard sci-fi. "The Time Axis," which initially appeared in the January '49 issue of "Startling Stories," finds science fiction's foremost husband-and-wife writing team (my apologies to Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm!) at the top of their game, but perhaps giving their seemingly limitless imagination too free a rein. The book is well paced, finely and at times humorously written, exciting and colorful, but ultimately, unfortunately, not fully satisfying. The story here concerns the "nekron," a shadowy whatzit that is killing Earthlings and causing the spread of an all-new form of matter: "a dead null-energy pattern of negation." Freelance reporter Jerry Cortland, a Madame Curie-type physicist named Letta Essen, dilettante scientist Ira de Kalb and martinet Army Col. Harrison Murray attempt a trip to the far, far future, after having received a distress summons found in a mysterious box on the isle of Crete. de Kalb had recently discovered the eponymous "time axis" buried in the Canadian Laurentians, and so, somewhat reluctantly, the quartet takes off in answer to the summons of the Face of Ea, and to hopefully find a cure for the nekron plague. Somehow, though, they do not get very far--perhaps only 1,000 years from now; the authors coyly refuse to be specific--and then the really strange stuff starts happening, as their personalities are absorbed by their futuristic counterparts and they get involved with brewing trouble regarding some synthetic humans, the Mechandroids. And this capsule description does not even begin to convey the temporal theorizing, mind-blowing plot developments and mysterious happenings that befall the four, all culminating in a grand duke-out with the nekron itself through both time and space.
Actually, as I was rapidly flipping the pages of "The Time Axis" (the book IS admittedly quite the page-turner), I was reminded a bit of a favorite TV program, "Lost." Not because of any plot similarities, but because, like that hit TV show, "The Time Axis" piles mystery on top of mystery, paradox atop paradox; for every item that is explained, two new conundrums pop up to take its place. And ultimately, the book's major problem is that the authors do NOT adequately answer all the reader's many questions. Our narrator, Cortland, constantly uses expressions such as "imponderable forces," "too big for the human mind to comprehend," "it doesn't make sense," "I can't describe...because I didn't understand" and "What did I see? I wish I could tell you." And while these unsolved mysteries do engender that elusive sense of wonder that is so desirable in good science fiction, they can still frustrate the bejeebers out of the curious reader. Basic questions regarding such items as the nekron's initial appearance, its affinity with Cortland, and the quartet's futuristic counterparts go largely unanswered. Or perhaps I am just missing something. These temporal paradox stories, of the kind so often featured on latter-day "Star Trek" incarnations, always give me a headache when I attempt to riddle them out. Still, I have a feeling that most readers will be left scratching their heads as they turn the last page over on this one. All of which should not be taken as a dismissal of this work. Kuttner & Moore couldn't write a dull, unimaginative book if they tried, and many sections of this novel make for thrilling and lovely visions (such as that fairyland Swan Garden, with fruit-laden streams floating in midair, and that Grand Central Station-like concourse of the future, with the citizens of a galaxy popping in and out of way-station transporter booths). With a bit more explication, this book could have been a real tour de force, rather than the unsatisfying thrill ride that it is....
Actually, as I was rapidly flipping the pages of "The Time Axis" (the book IS admittedly quite the page-turner), I was reminded a bit of a favorite TV program, "Lost." Not because of any plot similarities, but because, like that hit TV show, "The Time Axis" piles mystery on top of mystery, paradox atop paradox; for every item that is explained, two new conundrums pop up to take its place. And ultimately, the book's major problem is that the authors do NOT adequately answer all the reader's many questions. Our narrator, Cortland, constantly uses expressions such as "imponderable forces," "too big for the human mind to comprehend," "it doesn't make sense," "I can't describe...because I didn't understand" and "What did I see? I wish I could tell you." And while these unsolved mysteries do engender that elusive sense of wonder that is so desirable in good science fiction, they can still frustrate the bejeebers out of the curious reader. Basic questions regarding such items as the nekron's initial appearance, its affinity with Cortland, and the quartet's futuristic counterparts go largely unanswered. Or perhaps I am just missing something. These temporal paradox stories, of the kind so often featured on latter-day "Star Trek" incarnations, always give me a headache when I attempt to riddle them out. Still, I have a feeling that most readers will be left scratching their heads as they turn the last page over on this one. All of which should not be taken as a dismissal of this work. Kuttner & Moore couldn't write a dull, unimaginative book if they tried, and many sections of this novel make for thrilling and lovely visions (such as that fairyland Swan Garden, with fruit-laden streams floating in midair, and that Grand Central Station-like concourse of the future, with the citizens of a galaxy popping in and out of way-station transporter booths). With a bit more explication, this book could have been a real tour de force, rather than the unsatisfying thrill ride that it is....
March 5, 2012
So far I've enjoyed Henry Kuttner; going into this one, originally a 1949 Startling Stories novella, I wasn't sure what to expect. Working with his wife C.L. Moore, Kuttner was one of science fiction's backbones during the 1940s, filling pulp magazines with amazing stories while other authors were busy with war-work. Yet today, he's an almost unknown quantity, which is a shame. Anyways, The Time Axis.
The Time Axis is told from the first-person perspective of Jerry Cortland, a freelance journalist trying to escape his past in Brazil. There, he’s attacked by a strange being of pure energy—negative energy—which burns his hand, and gives him a brief glimpse of clarity. This creature is responsible for a growing number of murders, and the burn victims seem to center around Jerry. He’s contacted by scientists Ira De Kalb and Letta Essen, who reveal some shocking developments. De Kalb stumbled upon a puzzle-box from the far future, which gives flashes of realization and foretells The Face of Ea, the last city on Earth, besieged by a nekrotic plague of negative energy. That’s the same nekrotic being that burned Jerry, and those around him. Which was released, by accident, when Dr. De Kalb first opened the puzzle box. Now, the plague of nekrosis is growing: and as it does, it eats away at the fabric of time itself.
Still with me? Yeah, it’s a lot to wash down… and that’s just the first thirty pages or so. Some more development before I start reviewing. So, it turns out De Kalb’s stumbled upon another great revelation: time isn’t a linear path, but is closer to a rotating sphere, and its axis is in the Canadian Laurentians. Hoping to learn more about The Face of Ea—and save all of time—they collect a Colonel who’s at odds with Cortland and journey to the future. (There are reasons for everything, I’m trying to be terse.)
But not far enough into the future; Cortland awakes to find his companions have new names, new memories, don’t recognize Jerry, and have had functioning roles in society for all their lives. For example, De Kalb goes by the name of Belem, and is a telepathic Mechandroid, a kind of cyborg; he’s in the midst of a revolt—Belem and other rebels are trying to make a Super-Mechandroid, forbidden by the authorities for obvious reasons. (Nobody likes machines that make even smarter machines.) Can Jerry figure out what’s happening, pull the group together, and get the rest of the way to the Face of Ea? And if Cortland manages all that… can they stop the nekrosis?
If you haven’t guessed with all that setup, there’s a lot going on. This is a very complex work, almost frustratingly so; Kuttner isn’t charitable with his explanations, and the novel could benefit from clarity. Don’t worry, you are not alone: Jerry Cortland is often overwhelmed by the complexities thrown at him. A lot of the time, he doesn’t know what’s going on, and even when he gets explanations he isn’t given enough to work with. I feel for the guy, because I’m right there with him. So, an unnecessary level of complexity; that’s a problem. Here’s another. After getting the plot to the time-axis so the characters can head forward in time… everyone arrives at the wrong point: only a few thousand years have passed, and The Face of Ea is nowhere near. D'oh. There’s no sense of linear progression, and feels like another story’s been dropped into the middle of this one. Having finished the novel, I can now say that it did matter; you just have to soldier on until all becomes clear.
The Time Axis is a fascinating look back at Golden Age super-science-stories; it’s a big idea that can outdo all other big idea rivals, a book laden with frustrating complexities and wild, speculative creativity. It’s a good synthesis of science mind-blower and thrilling future adventure. But I can’t help thinking it could have been smoother, clearer, less Byzantine in its future pseudo-science. And I have a higher than average tolerance for SF not rooted in realistic science, which will annoy others. A good read? Yes, for the most part. A perfect book? Close, but no cigar; there were a few too many times where I wondered what’s going on, or where’s Kuttner going with this, or was otherwise drawn out of the narrative. When the book finally gets there, though, it’s worth it; the finale makes the entire plot rewarding.
(Full review found here.)
The Time Axis is told from the first-person perspective of Jerry Cortland, a freelance journalist trying to escape his past in Brazil. There, he’s attacked by a strange being of pure energy—negative energy—which burns his hand, and gives him a brief glimpse of clarity. This creature is responsible for a growing number of murders, and the burn victims seem to center around Jerry. He’s contacted by scientists Ira De Kalb and Letta Essen, who reveal some shocking developments. De Kalb stumbled upon a puzzle-box from the far future, which gives flashes of realization and foretells The Face of Ea, the last city on Earth, besieged by a nekrotic plague of negative energy. That’s the same nekrotic being that burned Jerry, and those around him. Which was released, by accident, when Dr. De Kalb first opened the puzzle box. Now, the plague of nekrosis is growing: and as it does, it eats away at the fabric of time itself.
Still with me? Yeah, it’s a lot to wash down… and that’s just the first thirty pages or so. Some more development before I start reviewing. So, it turns out De Kalb’s stumbled upon another great revelation: time isn’t a linear path, but is closer to a rotating sphere, and its axis is in the Canadian Laurentians. Hoping to learn more about The Face of Ea—and save all of time—they collect a Colonel who’s at odds with Cortland and journey to the future. (There are reasons for everything, I’m trying to be terse.)
But not far enough into the future; Cortland awakes to find his companions have new names, new memories, don’t recognize Jerry, and have had functioning roles in society for all their lives. For example, De Kalb goes by the name of Belem, and is a telepathic Mechandroid, a kind of cyborg; he’s in the midst of a revolt—Belem and other rebels are trying to make a Super-Mechandroid, forbidden by the authorities for obvious reasons. (Nobody likes machines that make even smarter machines.) Can Jerry figure out what’s happening, pull the group together, and get the rest of the way to the Face of Ea? And if Cortland manages all that… can they stop the nekrosis?
If you haven’t guessed with all that setup, there’s a lot going on. This is a very complex work, almost frustratingly so; Kuttner isn’t charitable with his explanations, and the novel could benefit from clarity. Don’t worry, you are not alone: Jerry Cortland is often overwhelmed by the complexities thrown at him. A lot of the time, he doesn’t know what’s going on, and even when he gets explanations he isn’t given enough to work with. I feel for the guy, because I’m right there with him. So, an unnecessary level of complexity; that’s a problem. Here’s another. After getting the plot to the time-axis so the characters can head forward in time… everyone arrives at the wrong point: only a few thousand years have passed, and The Face of Ea is nowhere near. D'oh. There’s no sense of linear progression, and feels like another story’s been dropped into the middle of this one. Having finished the novel, I can now say that it did matter; you just have to soldier on until all becomes clear.
The Time Axis is a fascinating look back at Golden Age super-science-stories; it’s a big idea that can outdo all other big idea rivals, a book laden with frustrating complexities and wild, speculative creativity. It’s a good synthesis of science mind-blower and thrilling future adventure. But I can’t help thinking it could have been smoother, clearer, less Byzantine in its future pseudo-science. And I have a higher than average tolerance for SF not rooted in realistic science, which will annoy others. A good read? Yes, for the most part. A perfect book? Close, but no cigar; there were a few too many times where I wondered what’s going on, or where’s Kuttner going with this, or was otherwise drawn out of the narrative. When the book finally gets there, though, it’s worth it; the finale makes the entire plot rewarding.
(Full review found here.)
February 5, 2017
Please give my review a helpful vote on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/review/R33WY0H...
Very Minor Kuttner.
Either by himself or with his wife, C.L. Moore, Kuttner was one of the great writers of classic science fiction. Even today, Kuttner's stories remain thought-provoking and thoughtful and worth reading. I count Kuttner's death at such an early age as one of the great tragedies of science fiction.
This book, however, is not one of Kuttner's great books. It is, altogether, a fairly mediocre representative of "super science" science fiction of the 1930s, which is strange because this book was written in 1949, after Kuttner had written many other classic stories. I suspect that this may have started out as a draft that Kuttner had lying around from the thirties, one of his early efforts, that he polished up and sent off to be published.
It has the undisciplined quality of an early effort. There is so much going on. The narrator, Jerry Cortland, has a run in with a strange force that is killing people in Buenos Aires. He returns to America and is enlisted by super-scientist, Ira De Kalb, to join a team with gray, aging Dr. Letta Essen, and Colonel Murray to journey into the future to fight the entity that has been released into our time. The journey involves going to the crossroads of magical ley lines in Canada to travel millions of years into the future the entity, called "the Nekron." Kuttner covers this explanation with pseudo-scientific bafflegab, and the reader is left to wonder how this works, since the four will apparently sleep in a sphere buried in the Laurentian mountains. De Kalb knows that these four will make the journey because when he discovers this magical place, he sees the four of them sleeping where they will sleep.
As time-travel devices, this is pretty slim.
The four go into the future a relatively short way, where they discover a technologically advanced civilization, and imitations of themselves. They do things at this time, which seem pretty pointless, except that aging, gray Dr. Essen is replaced by vital, younger Dr. Essen 2.0. They then go back into hibernation, and come out at their desired destination, where they find "the Face of Ea, and mystically fight the Nekron, which is a creature of pure death and negation from out of time and space.
So, time travel, evil entities from beyond time and space, reincarnation (of sorts), androids (in the future), magical ley lines...this story is far, far too busy, which speaks to my theory that it is the product of a younger writer, whose mind is brimming with ideas and no editorial control.
I found the "hidden" Lovecraft element fascinating. Kuttner was a friend of both H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith and wrote some stories int he Lovecraft Mythos in the 1930s. He met his wife, C.L. Moore, through a Lovecraft circle. The Nekron is archetypal Lovecraft creature - it is pure evil and from outside time and space.
Kuttner's opening line in this book is classic:
"THE WHOLE THING NEVER HAPPENED and I can prove it — now. But Ira De Kalb made me wait a billion years to write the story."
And, likewise, the ending:
"Well, all this belongs to the future. And so do I. Even before the cosmic cleavage altered all history I was a misfit in this civilization. And now it just isn’t my world anymore. I don’t belong here. So I think I’ll take my chances in that other place, where I won’t have to get used to the little things that keep bothering me here and bother nobody but me — Like Washington being the capital of the United States — now!"
I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read Kuttner's better works. Honestly, if this story had been written by anyone else, I would have given this story two stars, but I feel justified in giving three stars because Kuttner is a major influence on science fiction and this story is part of the legacy of a great writer.
Very Minor Kuttner.
Either by himself or with his wife, C.L. Moore, Kuttner was one of the great writers of classic science fiction. Even today, Kuttner's stories remain thought-provoking and thoughtful and worth reading. I count Kuttner's death at such an early age as one of the great tragedies of science fiction.
This book, however, is not one of Kuttner's great books. It is, altogether, a fairly mediocre representative of "super science" science fiction of the 1930s, which is strange because this book was written in 1949, after Kuttner had written many other classic stories. I suspect that this may have started out as a draft that Kuttner had lying around from the thirties, one of his early efforts, that he polished up and sent off to be published.
It has the undisciplined quality of an early effort. There is so much going on. The narrator, Jerry Cortland, has a run in with a strange force that is killing people in Buenos Aires. He returns to America and is enlisted by super-scientist, Ira De Kalb, to join a team with gray, aging Dr. Letta Essen, and Colonel Murray to journey into the future to fight the entity that has been released into our time. The journey involves going to the crossroads of magical ley lines in Canada to travel millions of years into the future the entity, called "the Nekron." Kuttner covers this explanation with pseudo-scientific bafflegab, and the reader is left to wonder how this works, since the four will apparently sleep in a sphere buried in the Laurentian mountains. De Kalb knows that these four will make the journey because when he discovers this magical place, he sees the four of them sleeping where they will sleep.
As time-travel devices, this is pretty slim.
The four go into the future a relatively short way, where they discover a technologically advanced civilization, and imitations of themselves. They do things at this time, which seem pretty pointless, except that aging, gray Dr. Essen is replaced by vital, younger Dr. Essen 2.0. They then go back into hibernation, and come out at their desired destination, where they find "the Face of Ea, and mystically fight the Nekron, which is a creature of pure death and negation from out of time and space.
So, time travel, evil entities from beyond time and space, reincarnation (of sorts), androids (in the future), magical ley lines...this story is far, far too busy, which speaks to my theory that it is the product of a younger writer, whose mind is brimming with ideas and no editorial control.
I found the "hidden" Lovecraft element fascinating. Kuttner was a friend of both H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith and wrote some stories int he Lovecraft Mythos in the 1930s. He met his wife, C.L. Moore, through a Lovecraft circle. The Nekron is archetypal Lovecraft creature - it is pure evil and from outside time and space.
Kuttner's opening line in this book is classic:
"THE WHOLE THING NEVER HAPPENED and I can prove it — now. But Ira De Kalb made me wait a billion years to write the story."
And, likewise, the ending:
"Well, all this belongs to the future. And so do I. Even before the cosmic cleavage altered all history I was a misfit in this civilization. And now it just isn’t my world anymore. I don’t belong here. So I think I’ll take my chances in that other place, where I won’t have to get used to the little things that keep bothering me here and bother nobody but me — Like Washington being the capital of the United States — now!"
I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read Kuttner's better works. Honestly, if this story had been written by anyone else, I would have given this story two stars, but I feel justified in giving three stars because Kuttner is a major influence on science fiction and this story is part of the legacy of a great writer.
August 20, 2021
There's a good dollop of C L Moore within the pages as the gaggle of protagonists are buffeted around and the narrator in particular spends his time without particular agency or real understanding of what is going on. He is a witness to weird circumstances and a reporter of fantastic imagery and concepts and the connection point with the reader. None of which is a recipe for good reading.
Kuttner (and Moore?) manage to turn this into a big reveal to explain what the Face of Ea really is and how these three humans have been honed to exactly the necessary instruments for dealing with the nekron menace. There's timey-wimey cleverness in this but this reader kept asking "where is this going?" and the whole is laid on a foundation of intense technobabble explanations that really didn't glue me to the story or the characters. Cosmic imagery and mind-blowing transhumanity is nice but you can't hang a story on just that.
Kuttner (and Moore?) manage to turn this into a big reveal to explain what the Face of Ea really is and how these three humans have been honed to exactly the necessary instruments for dealing with the nekron menace. There's timey-wimey cleverness in this but this reader kept asking "where is this going?" and the whole is laid on a foundation of intense technobabble explanations that really didn't glue me to the story or the characters. Cosmic imagery and mind-blowing transhumanity is nice but you can't hang a story on just that.
December 15, 2014
2014 grade C-
way to abstract
Ebook
way to abstract
Ebook
June 4, 2025
This is an incredible epic across millennia, with an incredible vision of the future redoubt of man—its vision of a final city of mankind very probably influenced by William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land.
Kuttner degrades the book considerably with his single sentence “shock” ending, which doesn’t as far as I can tell even contradict anything previous in the book. That is, it could have been just as true at the beginning as it is at the end, for all we know. And as if such a trivial thing even matters after all that Jerry Cortland has been through. Perhaps it does matter to Cortland, but it doesn’t matter to the reader.
Completely unrelated to the incredible vista of time and space that Cortland visits is the language that Kuttner used, and that, presumably, he expected his reader in 1948 to understand. Toward the beginning, he describes his fellow adventurer de Kalb as having a face that “was handsome in the vacant way the Belvedere’s is.”
Even searching now I can’t really tell what that means. Is he comparing de Kalb’s face to a hotel? A painting? I suspected a statue, perhaps one the Apollo Belvedere? Was it really famous enough at the time to justify a throwaway comparison?
Later, while planning something with another character, Cortland asks “Even if you can do it again… can you be sure you’ll be any forrader?”
It looked like a very odd typo at first. But forrader is a real word. Merriam-Webster has it as “chiefly British” for “further ahead”.
Minor linguistic issues aside, this is a fascinating story very poetically told, especially toward the end. It’s classic Kuttner & Moore.
I walked the streets. But I am still not sure among what crowds I walked.
Kuttner degrades the book considerably with his single sentence “shock” ending, which doesn’t as far as I can tell even contradict anything previous in the book. That is, it could have been just as true at the beginning as it is at the end, for all we know. And as if such a trivial thing even matters after all that Jerry Cortland has been through. Perhaps it does matter to Cortland, but it doesn’t matter to the reader.
Completely unrelated to the incredible vista of time and space that Cortland visits is the language that Kuttner used, and that, presumably, he expected his reader in 1948 to understand. Toward the beginning, he describes his fellow adventurer de Kalb as having a face that “was handsome in the vacant way the Belvedere’s is.”
Even searching now I can’t really tell what that means. Is he comparing de Kalb’s face to a hotel? A painting? I suspected a statue, perhaps one the Apollo Belvedere? Was it really famous enough at the time to justify a throwaway comparison?
Later, while planning something with another character, Cortland asks “Even if you can do it again… can you be sure you’ll be any forrader?”
It looked like a very odd typo at first. But forrader is a real word. Merriam-Webster has it as “chiefly British” for “further ahead”.
Minor linguistic issues aside, this is a fascinating story very poetically told, especially toward the end. It’s classic Kuttner & Moore.
Between experience and inexperience lies a gulf that can be bridged in one way and one way only.
November 22, 2021
A leggere i romanzi di Henry Kuttner in modo grossomodo cronologico come sto facendo io, risulta evidente che
The Time Axis
è costruito con gli stessi ingredienti fondamentali dei precedenti The Creature from Beyond Infinity e Valley of the Flame: una terrificante forma di energia giunta dallo spazio che minaccia di annichilire la Terra, un superscienziato leggermente pazzo che si schiera in difesa dell'umanità, un militare tanti muscoli e poco cervello in rapporto deuteragonistico con il superscienziato, un'eroina femminile fascinosa e teoricamente geniale che però resta colpevolmente sullo sfondo, un'intelligenza semidivina imperscrutabile che in qualche misura indirizza il superscienziato. Abbiamo poi tratti in comune anche con The Dark World, sul quale aveva sicuramente messo mano anche la signora C.L. Moore in Kuttner, quindi ipotizzo che si tratti di suggestioni partite da lei: un viaggio nello spazio-tempo compiuto dagli eroi per contrastare la minaccia aliena, un mondo futuro (in The Dark World era parallelo) fatto di colonie spaziali umane, scenari paradisiaci, superumani mutanti e meccandroidi geniali (soggetti che Moore trattò pure da sola in Judgment Night: A Selection of Science Fiction e assieme al marito in Mutant), un conflitto allucinato fra gli eroi e i loro doppi/sosia (anch'esso già centrale in The Dark World), una battaglia finale surreale e galvanizzante che tiene presente la lezione estetica di Howard Lovecraft.
Ora, perché ho voluto inventariare tutti questi "materiali stock" con cui Kuttner ha costruito The Time Axis? Perché in tali materiali risiedono sia i pregi sia i difetti del romanzo: da un lato Kuttner padroneggia perfettamente questi temi che gli sono ormai cari e collaudati senza per questo scadere nella fotocopia di sé stesso, e così l'intreccio risulta ben ritmato come al solito, ci tiene sempre incollati alla pagina accumulando misteri su misteri e stupori su stupori, e secondo me i paragrafi "paesaggistici" in cui Kuttner ci dipinge straordinarie vedute di un'umanità futura sono fra le sue pagine più felici, degne precorritrici delle più belle puntate di Star Trek (come non paragonare la Faccia di Ea al Guardiano dell'Eternità?). Dall'altro lato, però, questo gigantesco minestrone di concetti è ancora più eterogeneo e complicato che in The Creature from Beyond Infinity e Kuttner ha avuto la discutibilissima idea di imperniare questa trama già non facile su un intricatissimo meccanismo di viaggio nel tempo ciclico, la cui risoluzione finale (come quasi sempre accade) causa un'emorragia celebrale – in altre parole, la cambella del worldbuilding non è esattamente uscita col buco. In aggiunta, a questo testo manca anche il bello scavo psicologico di The Dark World, e si sente: se l'Edward Bond di The Dark World è il perfetto eroe autodiegetico, Jerry Cortland di The Time Axis è il perfetto esempio di comprimario tontolone utilizzato come punto di vista ignorante, in modo da incrementare artificiosamente la patina di mistero – tanto che in almeno una mezza dozzina di scene Jerry liquida qualcosa di favoloso come "indescrivibile". E grazie al membro virile, Jerry!
Tutto sommato i pregi e i difetti del romanzo si bilanciano abbastanza da meritare un bel 3,5/5, ma ancora una volta scatta l'arrotondamente al ribasso siccome questa edizione Gollancz contiene più refusi di quanto sia legittimo: siamo arrivati al grave livello di un paio di frasi sì intelligibili ma piene di copincolla sbagliati...
Ora, perché ho voluto inventariare tutti questi "materiali stock" con cui Kuttner ha costruito The Time Axis? Perché in tali materiali risiedono sia i pregi sia i difetti del romanzo: da un lato Kuttner padroneggia perfettamente questi temi che gli sono ormai cari e collaudati senza per questo scadere nella fotocopia di sé stesso, e così l'intreccio risulta ben ritmato come al solito, ci tiene sempre incollati alla pagina accumulando misteri su misteri e stupori su stupori, e secondo me i paragrafi "paesaggistici" in cui Kuttner ci dipinge straordinarie vedute di un'umanità futura sono fra le sue pagine più felici, degne precorritrici delle più belle puntate di Star Trek (come non paragonare la Faccia di Ea al Guardiano dell'Eternità?). Dall'altro lato, però, questo gigantesco minestrone di concetti è ancora più eterogeneo e complicato che in The Creature from Beyond Infinity e Kuttner ha avuto la discutibilissima idea di imperniare questa trama già non facile su un intricatissimo meccanismo di viaggio nel tempo ciclico, la cui risoluzione finale (come quasi sempre accade) causa un'emorragia celebrale – in altre parole, la cambella del worldbuilding non è esattamente uscita col buco. In aggiunta, a questo testo manca anche il bello scavo psicologico di The Dark World, e si sente: se l'Edward Bond di The Dark World è il perfetto eroe autodiegetico, Jerry Cortland di The Time Axis è il perfetto esempio di comprimario tontolone utilizzato come punto di vista ignorante, in modo da incrementare artificiosamente la patina di mistero – tanto che in almeno una mezza dozzina di scene Jerry liquida qualcosa di favoloso come "indescrivibile". E grazie al membro virile, Jerry!
Tutto sommato i pregi e i difetti del romanzo si bilanciano abbastanza da meritare un bel 3,5/5, ma ancora una volta scatta l'arrotondamente al ribasso siccome questa edizione Gollancz contiene più refusi di quanto sia legittimo: siamo arrivati al grave livello di un paio di frasi sì intelligibili ma piene di copincolla sbagliati...
March 14, 2020
This reads like Kuttner just had so many ideas he wanted to use he threw them all into one book, and I mean that in a good way.
The protagonist is a hardboiled journalist haunted by his psychic link to a strange alien killer. A genius scientist explains the killer is a manifestation of an alien indestructible matter, nekron, and that to stop it taking over the world, they need to travel into the distant future and learn its secrets. A device from the future has shown him they have/will do this, so it's all settled.
And then we have the androids. And transporters. And the nekron. And the strange culture of the future. And minds hopping body to body. It's cheerfully wild and Kuttner cheerfully handwaves a lot of explanation on the grounds narrator can't make sense of it (which is reasonable).
A lot of fun
The protagonist is a hardboiled journalist haunted by his psychic link to a strange alien killer. A genius scientist explains the killer is a manifestation of an alien indestructible matter, nekron, and that to stop it taking over the world, they need to travel into the distant future and learn its secrets. A device from the future has shown him they have/will do this, so it's all settled.
And then we have the androids. And transporters. And the nekron. And the strange culture of the future. And minds hopping body to body. It's cheerfully wild and Kuttner cheerfully handwaves a lot of explanation on the grounds narrator can't make sense of it (which is reasonable).
A lot of fun
December 7, 2024
Why I decided to grab this one when I'm chasing my year end reading goal I don't know... I hate time travel. I managed to push through and finish it though. It features a group of 4 'heroes', but is told from the PoV of reporter Harry Cortland. He's a noir-ish character and ends up mixed up with some science types trying to get some money after drinking too much.
Turns out they have to go to the end of time and battle... something. Its never clear exactly what, and save all of time and space. There's an actual Pandora's Box involved, and the author trying to logically explain time travel as a 4th dimension and that there's a place where the dimension intersect.
It's unique, I'll say that. But I still hate time travel. At least the cover is cool (and somewhat accurate to the story.
Turns out they have to go to the end of time and battle... something. Its never clear exactly what, and save all of time and space. There's an actual Pandora's Box involved, and the author trying to logically explain time travel as a 4th dimension and that there's a place where the dimension intersect.
It's unique, I'll say that. But I still hate time travel. At least the cover is cool (and somewhat accurate to the story.
April 4, 2021
This one’s got it all: Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore throw time travel, superhuman androids, eerie doppelgängers, telepathy, teleportation, galactic civilization, alternate universes, apocalyptic destruction, trippy philosophy, and PKD-prefiguring paranoia into a very enjoyable 1940s pulp SF adventure.
February 28, 2025
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https://www.abjjad.com/book/103404581...
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https://www.abjjad.com/book/103404581...
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April 26, 2020Pulp. Moderately well written. Not so great character development, and way too many buzzwords poorly developed, even among those that have a meaning. It was just "OK".
October 17, 2023
It was a different kind idea of time travel. They traveled so far through time they went back to the beginning and around the other side.
December 29, 2014
Reviewed by Sandy: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
March 24, 2016
A really great three stars!
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